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Emmet Isaih Sigers has been recaptured and is in ADOC custody after escaping from an Elba correctional facility earlier Thursday morning. Sigers is serving a 10-year sentence for a Class B felony in Covington County and also has pending charges of murder and attempted murder.

Sigers was reported missing at approximately 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 15, after conducting an institutional count revealed he was missing from his assigned bed at the Elba Community Based Facility/Community Work Center located at 1620 Boswell St.

After serving prison time for a Covington County conviction for domestic violence by strangulation, Sigers is also a suspect in the killing of Cammeon Franklin and shooting and injuring another person in a vehicle on Dec. 9, 2023.

District Attorney Walt Merrell said that during a court hearing to decide whether or not Sigers’ release from prison should be revoked, testimony was given by witnesses who said they saw Sigers shoot 16 times at the victims, and the victims’ vehicle had at least 13 bullet holes from the attack.

Following that hearing, Sigers was remanded back to the custody of the Department of Corrections.

“I am very thankful for the immediate response by the State Bureau of Investigation, multiple local law enforcement agencies, and the Alabama Department of Corrections to apprehend Sigers so quickly,” Merrell said. “Because Sigers faces a murder charge, he also faces a life sentence, and that kind of pressure on someone makes their behavior unpredictable and extra dangerous.”

Though Sigers will first go back into the custody of ADOC to finish the prison term he was serving, Merrell said once that term is served, he will return to the Covington County Jail to await trial on the murder charge. He has been denied bond on that charge under Aniah’s Law.

“I hope he will also now face escape charges in Coffee County as well,” Merrell said. “I know many citizens are frustrated, concerned, or even scared that a murder defendant would be placed at a work release camp, particularly so close to his hometown, and I share in that frustration and concern. I have written the ADOC to both express that frustration and request that, not only Sigers be housed in a maximum security facility, but also any other inmate who has such violent pending charges.”